All manner of sin can be forgiven except one: blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 12:22-37 Mark 3:22-30 Luke 12:10 I John 5:16-17) Also God will not forgive a person of their sin while they have unforgiveness towards another person (Matthew 18:23-35). Unforgiveness is NOT blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, because when a person forgives the other person, then God will also forgive. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost cannot be forgiven if not done in ignorance. We will talk more about the unforgivable sin later, and for now will just give a brief definition:

The sin that cannot be forgiven is when a person receives the Holy Ghost (with evidence of speaking in tongues), is thoroughly taught the doctrines of the Word of the Lord (Faith, Grace, Repentance, Baptism in Jesus’ name, the infilling of the Holy Ghost, the Second coming of Christ, and eternal judgment), understands and obeys the doctrines that he has been taught, and then walks away from God saying that the spirit of God is not real and is not really from God. God alone determines whether or not a person has committed the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost that cannot be forgiven, not man.

First understand that everybody who lives for God any length of time after their initial experience will again accidentally sin. You are not alone. You will immediately feel conviction when you sin because of the Holy Spirit living inside of you. One person defined conviction as “the permission to repent.” The Holy Ghost is inside you to teach you how to live without sin so listen to your conscience, because it is the most common method with which God speaks to a Christian.

God placed His Spirit inside you to help you to overcome sin. There is a difference between accidental sin and premeditated or intentional sin. In the Old Testament, if a person accidentally sinned, then he was able to take a sacrifice to the High Priest and have his sin forgiven by God (Leviticus 4). If a person knew what he was doing was sin, and, knowing what he was doing, went ahead and sinned, then that person was put to death (Exodus 21 and 22).

Because of sin in our lives, we were spiritually dead. When we received the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues, we were regenerated to become spiritually alive. If we accidentally sin, then we do not automatically die spiritually, but we have a time and a space to repent. If we sin willfully, however, and go against what we know is God’s Word, then we automatically spiritually die.

You must truly repent, and ask God to help you not sin the next time. Also if the reason you sinned is because you opened yourself up to temptation, then make the necessary steps not to place yourself in that temptation again. For example, if you were talking about someone and tearing down someone’s reputation, then that is gossip. Some people think that as long as what they are saying is true, then it is okay to talk about people, but gossip is when you talk bad about somebody with the result of hurting them whether the information is true or not. If you did not realize what gossip was exactly, then you accidentally sinned, and just need to ask forgiveness. But, remove yourself from the temptation to gossip and do not hang around people that do so continually.

No, Jesus Christ shed His blood for all sin. It covered the sin before His death, and it also covered the sin after His death. When you applied the blood of Jesus to your life at water baptism in Jesus name, you have the redemptive power of that blood available not only for your past sins, but for your future sins!

I John was a letter written to Apostolic church members. John constantly refers to these people as “beloved, little children, sons of God, and brethren.” These members had already believed in Jesus Christ, Repented of their sins, Been baptized in Jesus name, and Filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. John is writing to explain to them what to do if they do accidentally sin: Confess our sins and Jesus is faithful and just to forgive them and cleanse us!

Many religions try to use this as an initial salvational formula and say that the only thing required to be saved is to confess our sins and repent. But this scripture was written to church members that had already fulfilled the initial plan of salvation as per the Book of Acts. This scripture only applies to those who are already sons of God by receiving God’s Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, been baptized in Jesus name by immersion in water, and Repented of their sins!

By reading the entire book and knowing that all of the apostle John’s writings were the last 5 books of the New Testament to be written. The Gospel of John, I John, II John, III John, and The Revelation of Jesus Christ, were all written to established apostolic churches. By the repeated references to “beloved” and other titles used by John through the book and by reading the rest of the passage:

“If” we sin we do have an advocate with God: the man Christ Jesus. The flesh of Jesus Christ died for our sins and became a propitiation, a substitute or sacrifice for our sins! Jesus Christ was not only our sacrificial lamb, but He is also our High Priest.

When a person accidentally sinned under law, they were able to go to the High Priest and offer a sacrifice for that sin. Today when we accidentally sin, we can confess our sins to Jesus Christ our High Priest, and He will forgive them because He was also our sacrificial Lamb! Thank God for His Mercy (when God doesn’t give us something that we deserve) and His Grace (when God does give us something that we do not deserve)!

No. Speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance was a sign that the Holy Ghost was coming into a person’s life and bringing them back to life spiritually. Because their has not been a spiritual death when a person accidentally sins, there is no need for a spiritual rebirth. If the person does not repent, however, and knows that they should, the accidental sin becomes willful sin and a spiritual death does take place.

If a person willfully sins then there is usually some kind of spiritual problem. The person needs to first truthfully ask themselves why they were willing to willfully and knowingly hurt God. Any unresolved situations need to be addressed and the person needs to surrender everything to God. The person then needs to repent by confessing his sin to God and asking forgiveness for that sin. The person also needs to talk to God about why he so willingly went against God’s Word and ask for spiritual help and guidance to avoid the temptation to rebel in the future. Repentance for the act does no good if the person does not address the root of the problem that led to the act. The person must follow all of the same requirements that a person that accidentally sinned was required to do.

The person who willfully sins does not need to be rebaptized as the blood of Jesus is sufficient as explained above in the section on accidental sin. By approaching in prayer and confessing to Jesus Christ our High Priest and our Sacrificial lamb, the blood of Jesus applied at baptism is sufficient and a rebaptizing is not necessary.

The person who willfully sins HAS had a spiritual death because willfully sinning always brings death! Therefore if a person has willfully and knowingly sinned, there must be a regeneration of the Holy Ghost. Since every time in the Bible when a person received spiritual life, they spoke in other tongues, a Christian who willfully sins needs to pray through to the place where the Spirit takes control of their life and regenerates or revives their dead spirit. It is at this point of total surrender that the person will again begin to speak in tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance.

Remember: there is a difference between the infilling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues in Acts, and the Gifts of the Spirit taught in I Corinthians. The first time that a person spoke in tongues, was a sign that God was coming into their life and reviving their dead, dormant spirit. The Gifts of the Spirit taught in I Corinthians are given to believers that have received the initial infilling of the Holy Ghost as in Acts. In Acts, when people spoke in tongues, nobody tried to interpret for there was no need. On the day of Pentecost, the only person who spoke to the witnesses was Peter and he did so in a language that all of the onlookers understood. He was not interpreting the tongues that had been spoken by the 120 because they were not being used in the gifts of the Spirit. They were receiving the Holy Ghost into their lives and having their dead, dormant spirits revived!

On the Day of Pentecost, 120 people all spoke in tongues at the same time when they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:15 2:1-4). In Acts 10, the entire household of Cornelius spoke in tongues together. In Acts 19, twelve disciples of John the Baptist spoke in tongues together when they received the Holy Spirit. Yet I Corinthians 14:27 says that in a public worship service believers should take turns speaking in tongues to the congregation, and only two or three people should give such messages. In the accounts in Acts no one interpreted the tongues or even tried to do so. Yet according to I Corinthians, if someone speaks in tongues in a service they should pray for the interpretation, and if there is none he should be quiet (I Corinthians 14:13, 28) We know that scripture does not contradict itself, so the passages in Acts and the passages in I Corinthians deal with two different situations and uses of tongues. Acts records the role of tongues in the conversion of individuals and I Corinthians records the use of tongues and interpretation to speak to a public meeting.

A person must receive the Holy Spirit into their life with the evidence of speaking in tongues in order to complete the initial plan of salvation. If a person willfully sins, then they must pray back to a point where the Spirit begins to cause them to speak in tongues again, for that is a sign that the Spirit of God is restoring back to life our dead dormant Spirit. A person being used in the Gifts of the Spirit in the divers kind of tongues is not having their dead spirit brought back to life, but is being used by God to bring a message to the church body. A person praying in tongues in His personal worship or prayer, can just be yielding to the Spirit and building up his holy faith and trust in God (Jude 1:20), or interceding for someone or something of which he does not possess knowledge (Romans 8:26-27).

Speaking in other tongues always accompanies an individual receiving the Holy Spirit into their hearts. Speaking in tongues is also used by God for other purposes after a person has received the Spirit of God. It is very beneficial for believers to speak in tongues often:

Just because a person speaks in tongues all of the time does not mean that they are completely obeying God’s Word or are spiritual. We must speak in tongues to be saved because it is a sign that accompanies the Spirit of God coming into our lives to bring our dormant spirit back to life! But we do not seek to speak in tongues, but rather to yield fully to God’s Spirit in praise, worship, and prayer. When we do this, the tongues will come. Remember though it IS beneficial for a believer to speak in tongues after the initial experience of the infilling of the Holy Ghost.

We should study these doctrines of salvation thoroughly and be able to answer the questions of others. We should also apply them to our lives! God will perform His Word and He still responds to Faith today, forgives sin at repentance, washes away sins in His blood at baptism, and places His Spirit within us with the evidence of speaking in tongues. To become mature Christians, we should be completely founded in these doctrines just as Hebrews 6 teaches us so that we can move on to the deeper spiritual truths in God’s Word!